More than 200 players came to the Nation's Capital for the 34th
annual Eastern Open, played Dec 27-30 at the Washington Westin,
formerly the Wyndham. $30 million in improvements were put into the
hotel since it changed hands this past year. Everything looks
fantastic in the classy hotel, except the lighting in the playing
room.

David Mehler of the US Chess Center organized for the 19th year
in a row. In connection with the Center's primary mission of
teaching kids to play chess, juniors playing up a section receive a
discount, and that always produces a higher proportion of younger
entries than normally seen in adult tournaments. This year, young
people made substantial marks in the
tournament, winning many of the prizes and taking first place in two
of the five sections.

The Eastern Open lasts eight rounds over four days. At a time control
of 40/2, SD/1, it takes stamina and perseverance to win the
tournament.

Grandmaster Alex Ivanov has a special affinity for this event. In
1989 he defeated four GMs and two IMs en route to his 7.5/8
result. He has won the Eastern Open many years and did so again,
this time a full point ahead of the field. He was nicked for a draw
by GM Sergey Kudrin (this was no GM draw; this was a hard-fought game
and lasted well into the 4th round) and a final round draw against IM
Bryan Smith to finish 7/8.

Here is Ivanov's 7th round win against Anton Del Mundo, the game that clinched the title for him. Del Mundo
had defeated Ivanov in a tactical slugfest the night before in the
Grand Prix Blitz Tournament, but with the longer time control, Ivanov
had enough time to see through the shots Del Mundo offered.

FM Andrew Boekhoff deserves mention as the clear winner of a very
strong Blitz event. His 8.5/10 took first over Grandmasters Ivanov
and Kudrin, both of whom who finished with 8 points. More than half
of the players in the Blitz were rated over 2000, and over half of
those were masters.

A near-calamity struck towards the beginning of round three. Shortly
after the round started Friday morning, my six-month-old laptop was
stolen from the director's room. Fortunately, I was able to rush
home to retrieve an old laptop. After a couple of hours I was able to
reconstruct the tournament, which continued without much of a
hitch. However, let no one ever say that chess players are selfish,
unconcerned people. Even though it was clearly not their fault,
players contributed $600, which was matched by a generous donor. Faced
with the loss of a nice new laptop, it can now even be upgraded a
little, this time with a laptop lojack, so thieves beware! It says a
lot about the players and parents in the area that they did this. Thank you!

Section Winners:

U2200 - Erik Santarius took clear first with 6.5
U1900 - Five split at 6/8: Nikita Panasenko, Hubert Neumaier (trivia
question: In this past fall's Armed Forces Open, Neumaier was the
only Colonel playing for the Navy, and he wasn't a marine??), Anatoly
Treger, Youri Loboda and Sherwin Rugless
U1600 - Adonis Turner 6.5/8

Clear first in the Under 1600, Adonis Turner. Photo David Mehler

U1300 - Ramanaj Sreenivasan, the only perfect score with 8. Rating
nuts out there will enjoy his improvement. The pre-tournament
official rating was 998 and his post-tournament rating was 1400!
Impossible you say? Probably, were it not for his unofficial rating over 1100.

Ramanajd Sreenivasan scored 8/8 in the Under 1300. He won't be playing in that section again!Photo David Mehler